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White Pass
The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad's 70 class 2-8-2s are a fleet of 4 Baldwin class 12-28 1/4 E 2-8-2s purchased by the WP&YR from 1938 - 1947. History In 1938, the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad Company needed a new freight engine to cope with the increasing freight traffic. Normally they could get a pair of 2-8-0s on a long train, but that would mean the manpower to operate both engines had to be doubled, not to mention the weight restrictions on the bridges. So they contacted Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA to construct them a 2-8-2 mikado using plan 12-28 1/4 E. In May 1938, Locomotive #70 rolled out of the Baldwin plant (serial number 62234). The locomotive had 44-inch driving wheels, a 205 psi boiler, 17" x 22" inch cylinders, a tractive effort of 25,179 lbs., Walscherts Valve Gear, and weighed in at 72 tons (115.25 tons with tender). The tender held up to 8 tons of coal and 4,000 gallons of water. #70 proved a big success and in January 1939, another locomotive, #71 (serial number 62557), arrived from Baldwin. Both locomotives helped the U.S. Army build the Alcan Highway during World War 2. After the war, both engines were given S118 tenders which held 5,000 gallons of water and 9 tons of coal. In May 1947, the last two members of the class, #72 and #73 arrived from Baldwin. The only difference from #70 and 71 was that #72 and 73 only had one sand dome while the latter had 2. Plans were made to buy more engines in 1950, but this plan fell through when the WP&YR decided to buy diesel locomotives instead. But these engines weren't without a bit of trouble. In 1940, engine #70 accidentally derailed when it's snowplow caught onto a crossing guard rail and he fell on her side. This happened again in 1951 and 1955. #71 also had seen her share of a derailment. When the Railroad lost its speeder in a fatal accident, there was no convenient method of cleaning the track-side ditches. The WP&YR's master mechanic and well-known coupler inventor, Lincoln Penn, developed a conversion of the use of the 70 class locomotive's pilots for cleaning trackside ditches. This involved replacing the drivers on one side of the engine with smaller drivers from the already retired 0-6-0ST locomotive "Duchess".'' The locomotive would lean to the right and clean the track-side ditches while moving forward. And guess who got the job? That's right! #71. This idea was satisfactory until one day when a strong wind from the left side of the engine blew hard, thus making the smaller drivers lean the engine too far and it eventually leaned over on its side. There were other trials with engine #70, but it was later considered a failure and discontinued after #70 derailed on a curve on a crossing, proving that the smaller drivers couldn't go around curves! The smaller drivers were later given back to the "''Duchess". But other than that, the class 70's continued to thunder on challenging the mountains with her heavy loads. But the only thing they couldn't challenge...was time. In June 1954, the White Pass & Yukon purchased their first mainline 6 wheel bogie diesel locomotive as part of its modernization plan and as soon as they came off of the boat, steam traction on the WP&YR began to dwindle with the older locomotives going first. The bigger engines held on firm, but it was only a matter of time until they would too would cease their service. In 1963, #70 and #71 were retired from service; #72 and #73 continued working until June 30, 1964, when they were officially retired from revenue service, ending the steam era on the WP&YR. Preservation #72 was used as a stationary boiler at Skagway while #73 was placed on display at Lake Bennett in 1968. #70 and #71 were left to rust in a siding after retirement. In 1969, #72 was badly damaged in a roundhouse fire, which resulted in the scrapping of its boiler in 1974. In 1977, #70 and #71 were sold to Silver Dollar City, along with the remains of #72 which were to be used as a source of spare parts, Silver Dollar City later sold out to Dollywood in 1986. In 1979, #73 was brought to the workshops to be restored to operation. In 1982, the locomotive was up and running and continued to operate until 2017 when it was taken out of service for its 1,472-day inspection. In June 2019, #73 was rebuilt and underwent steam tests in order to go back into service. #70 continues to operate proudly at Dollywood while #71 is sitting in a siding next to the engine house awaiting restoration. Gallery Category:Baldwin locomotives Category:2-8-2 Locomotives Category:2-8-2 Steam Locomotives Category:Narrow-gauge steam locomotives Category:Narrow-gauge locomotives Category:Eight Coupled Locomotives Category:White Pass & Yukon Route Locomotives